“Or the pups, apparently. If Hale leaves, there will only be one male to defend the den.”
The mention of the children stung more than a little. When she had marched from the den, thoughts of them, particularly Snow, had been the hardest to steel herself against.
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. “Fine, I’ll take myself. Can you at least point me in the right direction?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Assuming you could make it there alive, do you really think you’re capable of raising a wolf pup alone?”
The cold air burned her eyes as she forced herself not to blink. “Where I come from, people don’t have to have babies they don’t want.”
“You’re overreacting,” he said, reaching for her arm. “Come back to the den—”
Sarah slapped his hand away. “I’m not overreacting,” she said, her voice rising. “Your stupid brother got me pregnant on purpose!” She kicked at the snow. “He told me the first time he tried to sleep with me that he could tell when I was fertile, so either he made that up—which would be just as bad—or he had sex with me when he knew that he could get me pregnant.”
Alder grabbed her wrists. “Calm down.”
She kicked snow onto his feet. “Let me go.”
Stubbornly, he held firm, holding her wrists above her head as if she were a disobedient child. She struggled against his grip until fatigue won out. As her breathing steadied and the anger seeped from her body, she became aware of how cold she was. At some point during her struggle, the fur had fallen from her shoulders, leaving only her flimsy gown to protect her from the icy wind.
Alder’s grip on her wrists loosened, and when he spoke again his tone was coaxing. “My brother wouldn’t have left the den if he thought you were pregnant.” He bent down to pick up the fallen fur. “He wasn’t lying when he said that we can tell when females are fertile.”
He brushed the fur off before securing it around her shoulders. “I’m not saying it wasn’t his fault, but we aren’t humans. Our instincts can be very difficult to control sometimes, particularly when it comes to claiming a mate. I doubt it was his intention to get you pregnant. He probably just lost control.”
With her head hung low, Sarah reluctantly listened to Alder. He was telling her the things she needed to hear, but not what she wanted to hear. She wanted to be angry and blame Cain for everything, because the only alternative was to be angry with herself. It had been uncharacteristically naïve of her to assume they could have all the unprotected sex they wanted without any consequences.
“It doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t tell me,” she said, hanging on to her last thread of righteous indignation.
“You’re right,” he said, squeezing her shoulders. “But I can’t let you go running off on your own. Cain will be back in a week. When he comes back, the two of you can talk about this. If you still want to leave, I’m sure Hale will take you wherever you want to go. Right?”
“Fine by me.”
Sarah’s head whipped around. Hale was leaning against a nearby tree, a small smile playing on his lips. How the heck did they keep sneaking up on her like that?
“How long have you been there?” she asked him.
Hale shrugged in response. Sarah noticed that he was carrying two fat hares that looked like fresh kills. A month ago, the sight of a dead rabbit might have made her tear up. Now it just made her stomach growl.
Smirking, Hale pushed off from the tree. “Come on, little sister. Let’s get some food in you.”
Chapter 2
Grace and Lotus were gone when they arrived back at the moon room. Jewel was still there, accompanied by Snow and a grumpy-looking Caim.
At the sight of the children, Sarah felt a renewed rash of shame. In her blind anger, she had almost walked out on them without any explanation. She wasn’t by any means a parent to either of them, but Snow in particular had become very attached to her, and it wouldn’t be fair to leave her without so much as a goodbye. She mentally vowed that before she left for good, she would speak with them first.
Unaware of Sarah’s emotional turmoil, Snow scampered over to her with a big, toothy grin on her face. The little girl raised her hands up in the gesture Sarah recognized as ‘pick me up’ and Sarah complied. Holding Snow’s small body against her chest was miraculously therapeutic, and Sarah felt some of the tension leave her body.
“I cleaned your mess,” Caim informed her, looking none too pleased about it.
Sarah felt the corners of her lips tug at his disgruntled expression. “Thank you.”